Homosexuality And Stereotypes In It's Elementary

830 Words2 Pages

“What’s the big whoop?” asks a cute, blonde, elementary school aged boy when his teacher discusses homosexuality. He didn’t understand why people cared who other people loved. Little kids are perfect examples of how society’s negativity towards homosexuality creates homophobia. Children don’t understand why it matters who you love because they don’t see it as a problem and their opinions aren’t clouded by stereotypes. If LGBT issues were taught to these innocent, uninvolved children in elementary school, it would be more likely they would be accepting as they grew up. It is important to present LGBT in a positive light before parents, classmates, and media influence their perceptions.
The movie “It’s Elementary” does a great job showing the positivity reaction kids have to presenting LGBT issues in the school system. The documentary showed that all age groups can benefit from these lessons. For example, a heterosexual, 8th grade social studies teacher felt it was very important to teach his students to be respectful and not afraid of their sexuality. This teacher started his lesson by asking students to share stereotypes. He then related these stereotypes to LGBT issues. One student shared with the class that he uses slurs “out of ignorance”. This
The teacher originally asked why they had to have the show at the school and not city hall. After seeing the students’ reactions, he changed his minds, saying the students are “ready for a lot more then I give them credit for”. I completely agree with this teacher. I think a lot of the times parents like to shield their children from differences. But what parents and teachers have to realize is that LGBT shouldn’t be seen as an abnormality, but as something that should be accepted in society as normal. Personally, growing up with gay family friends as a normality made learning about LGBT acceptance much

Show More
Related

  • Sexual Stereotypes and Stereotyping

    1487 Words  | 3 Pages

    In an excerpt titled "The Feminist Face of Antitechnology" from his 1981 book Blaming Technology, Samuel C. Florman explains why he thinks so few educated women in modern society are engineers.  The excerpt was written shortly after he had visited an all-female liberal arts school, Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, to convince a few young women to become engineers.  His mission failed and his essay makes clear why he had such trouble.

    Read More

  • Should Section 28 Be Repealed?

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    Young LGBT people do not have equal opportunities in education at the moment, neither in schools nor in college environments. The biggest single problem for young people, if you ask them, is that of bullying and harassment. It is something that affects LGBT pupils directly, but other people too. Anybody can be homophobically bullied - they do not have to be gay to be a victim of that. Bullying and harassment also affects people who have not come out as being gay. The effect on someone who has not come out in an environment where homophobic bullying is going on all the time is to make him or her terrified about telling anyone that they are gay. One of the particular LGBT equality issues most often mentioned is an understanding of the importance of coming out. Coming out is a life-changing event for a young person, and it is very important that school staff understands the implications and can give support to people who are doing it or thinking about doing it.

    Read More

  • LGBTQ Parenting

    866 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a LGBTQ headed family the pressures of society can weigh heavy on the way you raise your child. In a recent article written by Lev (2010) it was found that the LGBTQ headed families often felt extreme pressure to be sure to raise a heterosexual child or children as well as a child or children who behave in such ways as a “normal” person of their gender would typically behave. Society puts a strain on being normal. The child is not worried about whether they act gender appropriate nor do they care about sexuality. Society is too focused on something t...

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Heterosexism

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...r than on adults. Moreover, the students can avail the knowledge about homophobia, if the teachers in the schools assign the projects or assignments related to lesbian or gay topics, and then by the help of their presentations in their circle of friends can also let them as well as the others know about the consequences of being a gay or lesbian. In addition, the teachers can also organize writing competition for the students to compose reports on homosexuals and disadvantages of committing insecure sex by ways of homosexualism, and then the winning report is promulgated on the speaker of the school so that everybody in the campus can take the advantage of it. The therapists and doctors treating homosexuals can also be invited to the campus and the students must be motivated to ask questions or to give their views on gays and lesbians issues to clear their opinions.

    Read More

  • The Challenges of Lesbian and Gay Youth

    2611 Words  | 6 Pages

    Despite the transition, little consideration has been given to understanding the growing population of gay adolescents. 25% of American families are likely to have a gay child (Hidalgo 24); In the United States, three million adolescents are estimated to be homosexual. Yet, American society still ignores gay adolescents. Majority of children are raised in heterosexual families, taught in heterosexual establishments, and put in heterosexual peer groups. Gay adolescents often feel forced by parents to pass as “heterosexually normal” (Herdt 2). As a result, homosexual teens hide their sexual orientation and feelings, especially from their parents. Limited research conducted on gay young adults on disclosure to parents generally suggests that disclosure is a time of familial crisis and emotional distress. Very few researchers argue that disclosure to parents results in happiness, bringing parents and children closer (Ben-Ari 90).

    Read More

  • Lgbtq Stereotypes

    637 Words  | 2 Pages

    The LGBTQ community has been becoming more and more of a topic in today’s society. In the 1970s the LGBTQ movement took hold and began to educate the world on why they deserved to be treated equally. However, the LGBTQ movement is only now becoming more integrated into society, as well as the media. People associated with the LGBTQ community were consistently looked down upon within the media in earlier times, such as the 1970s. The few depictions of LGBTQ people were stereotypical and homophobic. Therefore, television has definitely made strides in the right direction to depicting the LGBTQ experience within its programming. LGBTQ people are being represented more and more, especially without the use of the special “one time thing/experiment” episode.

    Read More

  • Repercussion: Necessary Or Harmful?

    383 Words  | 1 Pages

    In contemporary society, we censor or dance around touchy subjects; avoiding material that could potentially offend students. According to Fox News, a 14 year old student in Fort Worth, Texas, was sent to the principal’s office and suspended due to his words against homosexuality.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Homophobia In Education

    1825 Words  | 4 Pages

    The fear of someone having a sexuality or gender that does not fit within the strict confines of cisgender heterosexuality usually takes the form of aggressive intolerance towards those who identify as lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ). This kind of fear is known as homophobia and in some cases homophobia can keep some people away from intuitions of education. In classrooms all across America there are LGBTQ students facing the hardship of living in country where homophobia is seen as acceptable. School are supposed to be safe places meant to aid children on their journey to personal growth. Though it seems that if the child is not a cisgender heterosexual then having a safe place of learning is an unobtainable privilege.

    Read More

  • It's Time for Legalization of Same Sex Adoption Around the Country

    1347 Words  | 3 Pages

    Words such as love and nurture are used in everyday life. As stated by Ellen C. Perrin and the American Academy of Pediatrics, “ Children may satisfy people’s desire to provide and accept love and nurturing from others and may provide some assurance of and support during their older years ” (Perrin and AAP). Parents of either sexuality understand a common goal, raised children required care. Children with homosexual parents receive the same love like children of heterosexual parents. Oppressors state, that the children will live horrible lives if raised in a homosexual environment. The fact is this, not all homosexual families face the same disapproval from those around them, and the same goes for heterosexual f...

    Read More

  • Stereotypes Of Homosexuality

    160 Words  | 1 Pages

    Sexuality is often a definitive aspect when it comes to presenting identities; take a look at how homosexual characters are stereotypically presented in genres such as soap operas or comedies; the media often choose to create an identity only representative of cultural ideologies, and therefore does little to reinforce the national representation of homosexuality, as heterosexuality is represented as the norm.

    Read More

  • Miamifield Gender Inequality

    544 Words  | 2 Pages

    sexuality is taught in an accepting environment, a progressive environment, bullying will decrease. It is not democratic to exclude certain persons because of their sexual orientation, and we would be missing an important perspective in the school if we were not to include these parents, teacher, or students based on this unwelcoming nature. Miamifield is a small city in southwestern Ohio. It has more conservative views on these types of issues such as sexual orientation. There may be a parental outrage that occurs when addressing this topic in schools, but it is necessary to think about the best interest of the students and the schools, and change the negative bias that many people may have of LGBTQI persons. An accepting society is democratic.

    Read More

  • Sexual Orientation Controversy

    285 Words  | 1 Pages

    “Same-sex sexual and romantic attractions, feelings, and behaviours are normal and positive variations of human sexuality” (Glassgold et al., 2009). It is 2018 and a majority of people still do not share this opinion. Sexual orientation continues to be the source of much controversy and a large amount of abuse and discrimination directed toward members of the LGBTQ community. These individuals experience various forms of abuse and discrimination that their heterosexual counterparts do not experience. Their sexuality is the source of inequality. For example, gay teenagers are very often the targets of bullying, physical assault, and other abuse that sometimes it drives them to commit suicide or at least to experience severe emotional distress

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: Single Gay Stereotypes

    235 Words  | 1 Pages

    For three of my four years in high school, I’ve been the only out LGBT student in my entire school. I’ve had to be the poster child, the spokesperson for all things gay. I’ve had to simultaneously define and break every single gay stereotype in the book. I was the butt of every single gay joke, whether it was aimed directly at me or not.

    Read More

  • Homosexuality And Perceptions Of Morality Analysis

    654 Words  | 2 Pages

    I was primarily influenced and informed by modern media perceptions of the LGBT community such as Jazz Jennings. She provided a realistic model of a trans-individual that I could empathize with, thus constructing my perception on the morality of transsexuality (ABC News, 2013). Within Bohjalian’s novel, sexual reassignment is described by a majority of the small Vermont community as a deviant moral transgression as opposed to its true nature as a process of healing. This message is made most clear through the wording of the petition about teacher morality, “teachers must act morally, honorably, and decently in their private as well as their public lives. They must not court obscenity, prurience, or deviance. They must not advocate perversion,” (Bohjalian, 2000, p. 219). The petition stands as a passive aggressive attempt to demonstrate that Allison’s decision making was morally repugnant. Not only does this petition represent an invasion of Allison’s privacy, it also demonstrates the community’s disrespect for human life by placing a morality value on associating with an individual simply based on their gender

    Read More

  • LGBT Community and Discrimination.

    1284 Words  | 3 Pages

    When one hears the words “LGBT” and “Homosexuality” it often conjures up a mental picture of people fighting for their rights, which were unjustly taken away or even the social emergence of gay culture in the world in the1980s and the discovery of AIDS. However, many people do not know that the history of LGBT people stretches as far back in humanity’s history, and continues in this day and age. Nevertheless, the LGBT community today faces much discrimination and adversity. Many think the problem lies within society itself, and often enough that may be the case. Society holds preconceptions and prejudice of the LGBT community, though not always due to actual hatred of the LGBT community, but rather through lack of knowledge and poor media portrayal.

    Read More

More about Homosexuality And Stereotypes In It's Elementary

Open Document